Cartridges (also known as rounds) for firearms are elongated. A typical cartridge includes a shell casing, made of brass, which is filled with an explosive propellant. At its rear or closed end, the casing has a rim or flange containing a primer. Next to the rim is an extractor groove, an annular groove machined into the casing which provides a grip for the gun's extractor to pull the fired or unfired casing from the chamber of the firearm. The front and opposite end of the casing is open. A bullet, projectile, or head, usually of lead (optionally jacketed) is partially inserted into the open or front end of the case by crimping the casing onto the bullet.
Some rifles have internally fixed magazines for feeding cartridges into a chamber. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,619,876 to Olson discloses a “magazine rifle” with an internal magazine.
The AR-15 was first built by ArmaLite, Inc. as a selective fire rifle for the United States armed forces. Because of financial problems, ArmaLite sold the AR-15 design to Colt. The select-fire AR-15 entered the U.S. military system as the M-16 rifle. Colt then marketed the Colt® AR-15 as a semi-automatic version of the M-16 rifle for civilian sales in 1963. Although the name “AR-15” and “AR-10” are registered trademarks of Colt and ArmaLite, other semi-automatic firearms are independently made, modified and sold under various names by multiple manufacturers. Most are referred to interchangeably as “AR” or “AR” style rifles (e.g., AR-10 and AR-14).
Other rifles, such as the AR-10 and M-14 styles, use detachable magazines instead to feed cartridges. Detachable magazines usually are elongated containers, generally rectangular in cross-section, which are attached to the underside of the rifle (i.e., inside a well opening of the receiver). Such magazines are commonly made of aluminum alloys, plastic, steel, or a combination.
Detachable magazines are usually closed on the sides and open on an upwardly facing top. The open top has a rectangular opening and includes two round-retaining members, known as feed lips, which project into or partly close the opening. An internal spring urges a follower or lifter (i.e., a shaped piece of plastic or metal) toward the open side. The spring-loaded follower in turn urges the rounds as a group up against the lips. The lips act as a stop for the rounds so that they are not expelled from the magazine.
Rounds are stacked or oriented in the detachable magazine such that the longitudinal axes of the rounds are substantially parallel and perpendicular to the direction of travel of the spring and follower. Adjoining rounds are oriented side-by-side and in the same direction, i.e., the bullets of adjacent rounds are next to each other, as are the cases.
The rounds are usually stacked in the magazine, either in a single straight column or in a staggered (zigzag) column (also called double-stacked or high-capacity) fashion. The double-stacked magazines, being wider, have a higher round capacity compared to single-column magazines of the same overall length.
Typically, firearm magazines are slid upwardly into well openings of receivers and removably latched in place. Some well openings include integral magazine guide assemblies. Those assemblies extend downwardly form the well openings to guide and lock the magazine.
Different styles of semi-automatic rifles (e.g., AR-10 and M-14) use different style magazines with different latches. For example, an AR-10 style magazine typically cannot be used with an M-14 style rifle.
Bolt-action rifles typically use magazines designed for bolt-action rifles. Such rifles do not have the hardware, within their well openings, to latch onto either AR-10 style or AR-15 style magazines.
Accordingly it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved magazine guide assembly, for bolt-action rifles, which can accommodate two different styles of magazines.
It is a more specific object to provide a magazine guide assembly, for bolt-action rifles, for latching and unlatching magazine styles for two styles of semi-automatic (e.g., AR-10 or M-14 style) rifles.
It is another object to provide an improved magazine guide assembly, commensurate with the above-listed objects, which has few moving parts and is durable to use.